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Diehard Nebraska basketball fans know that during the offseason, sometimes news is hard to come by, but when it does, it comes in bunches. Such is the case now as a couple of stores that should be encouraging to long time Nebrasketball observers. The first story came to light yesterday when word got out that the Huskers have sold a rather large number of season tickets for next year, their first in the new Pinnacle Bank Arena.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>I've confirmed that <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23Nebrasketball">#Nebrasketball</a> has sold 10,355 season tickets for first year in @<a href="https://twitter.com/pinnaclearena">pinnaclearena</a>. That's a 49% increase from last season.</p>— Brian Rosenthal (@HuskerExtraBR) <a href="https://twitter.com/HuskerExtraBR/status/321717097220677632">April 9, 2013</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>The 10,355 <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23Nebrasketball">#Nebrasketball</a> season tix do NOT include student tix, which will be around 1,500, or more, if needed. More in a story to come.</p>— Brian Rosenthal (@HuskerExtraBR) <a href="https://twitter.com/HuskerExtraBR/status/321717432131657728">April 9, 2013</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Since the articles in @<a href="https://twitter.com/owhbigred">owhbigred</a> and @<a href="https://twitter.com/huskerextrabr">huskerextrabr</a> on record ticket sales - NU sold another 421 yesterday. Get em quick folks <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23GBR">#GBR</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23Huskers">#Huskers</a></p>— Tim Miles (@CoachMiles) <a href="https://twitter.com/CoachMiles/status/322391727539359744">April 11, 2013</a></blockquote>
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To whit, there have been at least 12,250 tickets accounted for in a building that will have a capacity of nearly 15,300. That means they've sold no less than 80% of the arena. That's staggering for a program that's been as moribund as the Nebraska basketball team has been. It's not uncommon to see an uptick in ticket sales moving into a new building, but I don't think any expected this big of an increase. Now, it will be up to Coach Miles to get the players into the program to take advantage of the added excitement around the program.
Speaking of players, another minor firestorm nearly broke out yesterday afternoon when the coach for Sai Tummala tweeted a top 5 list. It's long been assumed that the Huskers were in that list, but they were not included in mistimed tweet. Tummala is a 6' 7" 215 lb power forward from Salt Lake CC. Aveaging 14.5 points and nearly 6 rebounds per game, he was named to the third team JUCO All-American list. Tummala spent his freshman year at the Univerisity of Michigan, though was not on scholarship. Michigan coach John Beilein called Tummala his most athletic player behind Trey Burke. That's quite the statement. Tummala, squelched the notion that he had ruled out the Huskers quickly and his coach deleted the tweet. Tummala will be visiting the Huskers this weekend and will be his first visit.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>I have NOT made a top 5 yet.</p>— Sai Tummala (@SaiTummala24) <a href="https://twitter.com/SaiTummala24/status/322091709297217536">April 10, 2013</a></blockquote>
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In other news, the athletic department unveiled the long anticipated court the Huskers would play on in the new arena. Many Husker fans have pined for the court that graced the Devaney Center during the glory years of the program during much of the 90's. It featured the state of Nebraska outlined on the court with the star representing the location of Lincoln on the map and the Husker cursive script spanning the length of the state. Well, this one has some of those similar features. It will be a two toned featuring the state of nebraska in a darker stain than the rest of the court. the area between the three point line and the lane will be stained darker as well. In the center of the stained outline will be the block N that has become so prevalent all around Husker nation. It is a sharp looking design. There are a few details that one could pit-pick, but on the whole, it's a solid look that will make most fans very, very happy. If you want to know what it will look like in practice, take a look at Ohio State's court. It has a very similar feel.
One final schedule note, the complete field for the 2013 Chaleston Classic was revealed. It was announced last fall that the huskers would participate in the event, but there were still two opponents to be named. The full field features Clemson, UAB, New Mexico, UMASS, Temple, Georgia and Davidson. The Classic will take place November 21-24 at TD Arena in Charleston, SC. Each team will be guaranteed three games but will compete in a bracket format to determine the classic champion.